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<title>Spot the Differences; It's All the Same by Raven_Silversea</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754016">Spot the Differences; It's All the Same</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Silversea/pseuds/Raven_Silversea'>Raven_Silversea</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, I guess? Strange area between Geonosis and the pilot, Implied/Referenced Slavery, Pre-Canon, shackled</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:35:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>919</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754016</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Silversea/pseuds/Raven_Silversea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rex knows the rules and expectations of the Kaminoans by heart. But when he's sitting across a prison cell with an equally shackled Anakin Skywalker, he breaks those rules and finds that a Jedi and a clone can have more in common than you'd think.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CT-7567 | Rex &amp; Anakin Skywalker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948642</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>159</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Spot the Differences; It's All the Same</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Day 1: <strike>Waking up restrained</strike>, Shackled, <strike>Hanging</strike></p>
<p>It's not a writing prompt challenge if I don't rewrite something the night before. This was originally in Anakin's POV, and well, now it's not.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“General Skywalker, are you alright?” </p>
<p>No response. Rex swallows and looks off to the side. Perhaps he shouldn’t be pressing General Skywalker. The Kaminoans certainly would not have tolerated it, but the Jedi as a whole have encouraged him and his brothers to speak their minds.</p>
<p>Being on the receiving end of a Jedi’s anger is a risk Rex thinks he’s willing to take as General Skywalker curls in on himself even more, hands raised above his head and bound together by shackles. A chill runs down Rex’s spine as he looks back at the still and quiet sight.</p>
<p>“General Skywalker, sir?” Rex leans forward, reaching out with his own shackled hands, but thinks better of it. You don’t touch those above you in status, the Kaminoans were very clear on that. He settles back against the cell wall.</p>
<p>General Skywalker takes a deep breath. “I’m alright, Rex.” He lifts his head and tosses his hair out of his face with a strained smile.</p>
<p>Rex raises an eyebrow. The smart response, the one he’s been taught, is to trust in his superior’s words and not question his judgment. He’s already pushed further than he was supposed to, but the words, “I don’t think you are, general,”  come out of his mouth. </p>
<p>General Skywalker laughs. It’s a dry sound, almost like it took him by surprise. “What makes you say that?”</p>
<p>In for a penny, out for a pound, Rex supposes. He sighs and leans his head back against the cold wall. “You’re too still, general. Normally, you’d be climbing the walls or halfway out by now.” Not that being captured together is common, but the general never seemed to stop moving or talking unless absolutely necessary. Rex could list at least five different ways to move within the confines of the cell, and the general continues to sit on the floor.</p>
<p>“Obi-Wan would consider that to be a miracle.” General Skywalker looks to the ceiling as he drops his hands into his lap. His shackles gleam an iridescent purple for a moment. “He’s been trying for years to get me to sit still.”</p>
<p>“I find it rather out of character, if I may speak honestly, sir,” Rex says. He twists his wrists, and the shackles scrap against his skin. “And rather concerning. Shouldn’t we be trying to escape, sir?”</p>
<p>General Skywalker holds his shackles up, looking past them to Rex. The purple gleam appears again. “We might have to wait for Cody and Obi-Wan,” he says, dropping them again, “unless you have a lock-pick hidden away in your back pocket.”</p>
<p>“I’m afraid I don’t, sir.”</p>
<p>General Skywalker shrugs. “Might not work on mine anyway if you did.”</p>
<p>“Why is that, sir?”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ all the time, Rex.” General Skywalker’s looking to the ceiling again, and his blue eyes seem wet. “Sorry, I just…” He sighs and looks to the floor. “I forget not everyone knows what suppression cuffs look like.”</p>
<p>“Been in this situation before then, sir?” Rex smiles in an effort to banter, but it soon falls when the general shakes his head.</p>
<p>“Not exactly,” he says. “I’ve only ever seen them from a distance. Occasionally, one of the hutts would capture a former Jedi initiate- someone who wasn’t chosen to be a padawan- and well, they’d bring them by Gardulla’s place to brag.”</p>
<p>Rex isn’t sure what to say to that. What do you say when your general all but admits to being a slave once? Even so, a warm ball forms in his chest, which he tentatively identifies as hope. Having access to the Republic’s records led to him and his brothers making more than a few unnerving comparisons to how the Kaminoans treat them and the Republic’s definition of slavery. Not that anyone seemed to notice except his brothers and they weren’t about to bring it up. Don’t question your betters, the Kaminoans had said.</p>
<p> “I always hated the fact the Kaminoans had names, but my brothers and I only had numbers,” Rex offers.</p>
<p>General Skywalker’s eyes are a brilliant blue when he looks from the ceiling to meet Rex’s eyes. There’s a solemnity to them as he nods. “So do I.” He looks down at his hands for the first time since being thrown into the cell. “They shackle children to their mothers,” he explains almost too quiet to hear. “My first memories are all about how the shackles tugged as Gardulla hurried my mother along. My fingers wrapped in her skirts. Her telling me to be careful and not misstep.”</p>
<p>Silence falls for a moment. Then, “My brothers and I used to see if we could spot any differences between us.”</p>
<p>General Skywalker smiles sadly. “Mom whispered stories of her sisters to me at night.”</p>
<p>Back and forth they went, sharing little pieces of similar pain and hope. General Skywalker looks more lively as the discussion continues, but he still doesn’t look at the shackles unless necessary. Rex understands. While he’s not sure how he would react if he found himself tied in a long stumbling line of identical brothers again, he imagines it would a lot like how the general reacted to being shackled.</p>
<p>The door eventually bursts open. General Kenobi crosses his arms and asks, “Did the two of you even bother to try and escape?”</p>
<p>General Skywalker laughs, and Rex ignores the bitter note to it. “What? And leave you with nothing to do?” He holds up his hands. “You do have the key, right?” </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Come find me on <a href="https://ravensilversea.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a> and <a href="https://www.pillowfort.social/Raven_Silversea">Pillowfort</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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